I do not own Devil May Cry or any of the stories, characters, plots, locations, etc. thereof.
Yay! I'm back. Sorry it took so long. This is apparently a trilogy. For more background on the characters, please visit my other stories Devil's Sins and Devil's Child.
Let me know what you think. I love reviews.
Yamato's blade cut deep into the shoulder of the demon, sending out a spray of dark green blood. The horned demon grunted and fell to the ground, struggling to rise on its four insect-like legs. Vergil landed easily behind and placed the tip of the blade at the base of the demon's skull and rammed it through. The demon gagged as the blade entered through its throat and out its mouth before twitching and remaining still. With one smooth motion, Vergil removed the blade, flicked the blood away, and sheathed it.
"A little excessive don't you think?" Dante said.
Vergil turned towards his brother's smirking face.
"It was the quickest way to dispatch it," Vergil responded.
"The demon hardly put up a fight. Are you angry about something?" Dante pressed.
"No."
"Not enough sex? Kids driving you insane?"
"No."
"Bored?"
Vergil glared at Dante whose smirk and widened into a large grin. Dante began whistling and turned to head out of the abandoned house. Vergil followed.
"I can't say I blame you, Verg. Things just aren't that exciting since the Puppet Maker. I swear the underworld has been slacking. I mean, how hard is it to try and cause the apocalypse? I know you miss the thrill of the hunt. The near death experience," Dante declared with sweeping gestures.
"Home is exciting enough," Vergil replied, but his mind traveled back to his previous conquests and the powerful demons he had destroyed. His fingers ached to use Yamato to its full potential. To feel the power as he barely defeated his worthy foe.
"Yeah, well fighting off your daughter's future boyfriends will be very exciting. She's going to be a bombshell in a few years," Dante said.
"She's your niece," Vergil snapped.
"I'm just warning you," Dante said, putting his hands up.
Vergil's pocket began to vibrate. He fumbled with the cell phone Evangeline had demanded he carry. Snapping it open, he raised the dreaded device to his ear.
There was a crash in the background and a scream.
"Get home now!" Evangeline said and hung up.
Vergil bolted down the street in the direction of home, leaving Dante shouting for an explanation. His heart thudded as he ran the miles to home, and he wondered if this were the day they were finally found. The image of his mother's face floated into his mind.
Vergil arrived at the door. All the lights were on in the house, a brick colonial after Evangeline had decided it would be more secure against demons despite his insistence that an extra fifty thousand does not buy security against the underworld. He listened, but no noise came from inside. He held a sheathed Yamato in one hand and quickly burst through the door and onto three pairs of shocked eyes.
"Geez, dad," Caleb said from the couch, his brother Gabriel at his side. The boys were a splitting image of each other, right down the sheepish looks on their faces. Moreover, they were a near exact replica of him and Dante at that age. White hair, blue eyes, and what Vergil came to realize, entirely too much confidence in themselves which caused continuous battles between the two boys. Evangeline could easily tell the difference, but dressed one in green and the other in blue for the sake of everyone else.
"Why do you have a sword?" Gabriel asked.
Vergil looked down at Yamato and hid it slightly behind his leg, realizing he hadn't taken the time to remove the demon blood that had spattered onto his pants.
"A client wanted to see it," Vergil said quickly.
Evangeline raised an eyebrow towards Vergil. Her red hair was pulled back and she was dressed in a black leotard a loose skirt, having clearly just arrived from teaching a dance class. Her anger-filled green eyes appeared normal and without their demonic essence from the aid a small ring charm Trish had created for her.
"Where's the fire, dear?" Evangeline asked through clenched teeth.
"It sounded urgent," he said calmly. "What's the matter…dear?"
"These two," Evangeline said, grabbing the two boys by the ears. "Decided it would be okay to beat the living daylights out of each other with baseball bats and they won't apologize for it."
"He started it," Gabriel said, tugging on the sleeve of his green shirt.
"I know he started it. He always starts it, but you decided to continue it," Evangeline said, releasing their ears. "And I had to cut a lesson short because the neighbors thought there someone being murdered."
"Well if Gabe would have just let me show him my cool new wrestling move, I wouldn't have had to hit him," Caleb snapped.
"Yeah, you wanted to use it on me!"
"Shut up!"
Caleb reached for Gabriel and grabbed his collar as Gabriel slapped at his brother's arm. Suddenly they were locked together in a grapple and screaming.
"Boys, stop it!" Evangeline yelled and tried to pull them apart.
Vergil walked over and calmly plucked Caleb from his brother and held him in the air by his armpits. The boys' eyes grew wide at this display and Gabriel slinked over to the couch. Vergil set Caleb down and leveled his eyes with him.
"Apologize to your mother and your brother," he said coldly.
Caleb gulped and mumbled his apologies. Vergil's gaze landed on Gabriel who lowered his eyes.
"Sorry," he said.
"Go to bed," Vergil said and the twins scurried up the stairs.
Evangeline huffed and fell into the couch.
"Way to make an entrance," she said, leaning her head back. She quickly sat up.
"You know they don't even listen to me. I'm not scary enough. The only thing that will get them to stop is you. They practically pee their pants when I call you. They're almost fourteen and they have no control over themselves. And put the sword away. I don't want them seeing it," she said, rubbing her temples.
"I thought there was a de…you know what," he said.
"Yeah, there were devils and they're your sons," she replied.
"As I recall, you participated in the act."
She leaned forward. "As I recall, you were the one who said you wanted more kids. Persephone's getting to be her own handful."
Vergil left Evangeline to fume and walked up the stairs. He stopped by Gabriel's door and listened. He could hear the two boys whispering to each other. They had never shared a room, but they often snuck in through the adjoining bathroom. He and Dante had done the same thing: fight and then quickly rebound into being best friends until the next squabble. Vergil knocked on the door.
"Bed," he said in a low voice and suddenly scrambling feet ran through the bathroom and into the next room.
Two doors down from Gabriel's room was Persephone's, covered with various tests and papers she had received A's on. He pushed open the door and peered inside to a dark room. He felt a slight unease at her tardiness. The hallway turned sharply to the left to the master bedroom on the right and a locked study at the end of the hallway. He entered his bedroom and set Yamato on the display hooks against the wall. Evangeline appeared in the doorway as he was removing his coat and blood stained pants.
"How was the client," she said, closing the door behind her.
"Successfully dispatched," he replied. "There was another job, but Dante can presumably handle it."
"Sorry I worried you," she said and wrapped her arms around his chest from behind. "But I'm glad you're home early."
The feeling of her warm flesh sent a shock of desire through his system. The moment was lost when the front door suddenly slammed and a set of footstep went stomping up the stairs.
Evangeline quickly opened the door and stuck her head out. Persephone walked down the hall and to her bedroom, only glancing at her mother. She was tall and stick-thin, her lack of curves being a sore spot for the young girl. She held her curly white hair back with a hair tie and wore no makeup on her pale skin. Her face was angular and severe like Evangeline's, with an icy blue stare that could cut to the bone.
"Where were you?" Evangeline asked.
Persephone sighed loudly. "I was at show choir practice. It went late because gymnastics ran late because we were practicing for the meet next week."
Evangeline scowled at her daughter's annoyed face and apparent attitude. Vergil listened with some amusement to the exchange as he took off his shirt and pulled on a pair of sweatpants.
"I didn't see you at the studio."
"My god, mom! I told you I was at gymnastics. I can't go to dance everyday. I bet Gabe and Cal didn't go," she snapped.
"What is with this new attitude? It stinks. Why start your teenage angst now?" Evangeline said, stepping out of the room with her arms crossed.
"Whatever, mom. I don't have an attitude," Persephone said as she slammed her bedroom door shut.
Evangeline stormed into the room and locked the door behind her. She stared at Vergil who only climbed into bed.
"Can you believe that? She's never acted like that before. She was always such a good girl and now she has PMS everyday," she said.
"She's part devil," Vergil said.
"She's not going to devil trigger, she's just acting like a sixteen-year-old girl which is a lot like a demon," Evangeline growled, tearing off the leotard and tights.
"I think she's awakening," Vergil said. "It's probably time to tell her before it's too late and she rips her brother's throat out."
Evangeline's head snapped towards Vergil and he met her angry gaze.
"No. We promised each other that if they didn't show any signs, we wouldn't tell them. Can you imagine trying to explain that you hunt devils for a living? If they never trigger then they don't have to worry about it," she said and grabbed a nightgown from the dresser, slipping it over her head.
"You're being naïve," Vergil said, a scowl appearing on his brow. He hated this exchange, and it only happened more often as the children got older. They couldn't continue to hide it. Somehow they would find out.
Evangeline climbed into the bed next to him.
"They're mostly human so let them be human. I want to spare my children the nightmare we went through," she shot back. Despite his sympathy, he knew nightmares were inescapable for Sparda's children.
It wasn't always their plan to keep it from them. They had tried for a while after Vergil returned to raise Persephone openly with his devil hunting. He had even envisioned training her one day, coming up with a detail schedule for when she turned six and contemplated one day handing over Yamato to her.
When Persephone was old enough, Evangeline joined him and the others on the hunt, tracking down the invisible traces they couldn't see. At first, the occasional demon bursting through the doors of Devil May Cry didn't bother her as Persephone was always in the company of someone else. Then Vergil and Evangeline barely made it to the babysitter's house in time to save the teenage girl and their child. The front door was shattered to splinters when they arrived. The girl was screaming, Persephone was crying, and the skeleton-like demon was hovering over the closet the babysitter had locked herself and the baby in. Vergil quickly dispatched the demon and Evangeline tried to reassure the babysitter that it was just a man. Later, he remembered hearing the young lady had a mental breakdown and ended up in the asylum.
Persephone had nightmares every night after that day. He remembered opening the door to the babysitter clutching Persephone tightly, bewildered more than terrified. However, Persephone's face was a mask of horror only a child could summon. She was frightened and truly did not understand except for some instinctual part of her that knew she was going to die.
His heart had never broken until that moment. The nightmares kept her from sleeping through the night, exhausting Evangeline until she was at the end of her rope. Then one fateful night, Evangeline threw up after dinner and stormed out with Trish on tow only to return with the announcement of her pregnancy.
Evangeline had looked around the room of Devil May Cry; the walls were riddled with bullet holes from a recent fight and the door barely hung on its splintered hinges. She told Vergil she wasn't going to raise her children like this and that they would never to have nightmares again. If he didn't like it, he could do some form of an explicit act and see her in court.
He didn't have the heart to fight his pregnant wife. She was tired and constantly worrying over vaccinations and raising Persephone right. Worrying that if illiteracy didn't get her than a demon would. Compound the worry with the expectation of (what they thought then) was another child after nearly dying for the first, he was fairly certain the wild look in her eyes was actually a nervous breakdown.
So he said yes, moved his family into a new house and became a "consultant." His dream of his warrior offspring taking up arms as he had was shattered. Persephone would become what? Last time he spoke with her she was taking Chinese and debate to become an ambassador. As much as he wanted to raise a devil hunter, it was strangely apt she would defeat her enemies in political battle. The one debate competition he had attended, Persephone made the opposing young man cry.
And Gabriel and Caleb? Gabriel would probably spend his life as a poor scholar with his noise in a book and Caleb would end up in jail several times before becoming a drifter. If Vergil hadn't been there for the conception, he would have sworn Caleb was Dante's.
Part devil and his children would be utterly human. No glory, no pride, no history of a great hero, just fragile bones and average aspirations. A broken legacy which made him want to tear away their human lives to show them the power in their blood.
"I'm right," he said.
"You always think you're right."
"I am always right."
She smacked him with the pillow and he glowered at her. Three children had done nothing to soften his stoic, marble face. He watched her settle into the pillows and was suddenly irritated by her normal features.
"Take the charm off," he said.
She smirked. "Oh, baby. I can never turn my charm off."
He didn't respond.
"Dante thinks I'm funny," Evangeline grumbled and removed the ring, setting it on the nightstand.
The illusion vanished and the brown demonic essence became visible on the whites of her eyes. The green of her irises stood out like lasers against it. He watched it shift and move, taking on a life of its own. He always thought it suited her better. They could pretend, but they would never be completely human. His hand fell to the scars that crept onto her shoulders. The smooth ridges were always hidden beneath clothing or a shawl, but he always knew they were there. A constant reminder of what she had survived and what made her all the more irresistible.
Completely oblivious, Evangeline yawned and lay down with her back to Vergil. He traced the scars with his fingertips, stopping at her hip. She tensed briefly, and he smirked with self-satisfaction.
"Vergil. What are you doing?" she sighed.
"Getting what I want," he said, and kissed her shoulder lightly.
She rolled onto her back and gave him a withering look.
"I'm tired and I have to take the kids to school in the morning," she said, frowning. "You don't always get what you want."
"It's been weeks. I'm not very patient."
Her body was flushed with warmth. He loved and despised these battles of will. She was difficult and stubborn prey to catch and he delighted in the chase. Unfortunately, she was occasionally clever enough to outwit him.
"Think of the children. Persephone's still awake," Evangeline said, placing her hand on his chest.
"That's precisely what I'm not going to do. She's probably listening to her music and studying," he said, his voice low. He drew her closer to him, his hand finding the round curve of her thigh.
Evangeline smirked beneath half-lidded eyes and rolled back over to his chagrin. He glared at her back, and she didn't balk from his gaze.
"Are you done?" she asked.
"Admit you want it," he said in a low voice.
Evangeline planted her soft, thin lips on his cheek and rolled back over. He felt a tingle run down his spine. Sliding beneath the covers, he wrapped one strong arm around her waist. He felt her smirk.
"I win," she whispered.
Dammit.
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The yogurt was sweet, almost too sweet with the crunch of cinnamon granola. The kitchen was warm with the smells of breakfast, brightly lit by the morning sun. Dirty dishes and eggshells littered the counter, as they usual did in the morning. Persephone watched her mother warily as she busied herself washing the pan she had fried eggs in. Her eyes swung over to her brothers who squabbled quietly, poking at each other's breakfast plates. She wrinkled her nose at her younger siblings before returning her gaze to her mother. Her mother pursed her lips as she vigorously worked the sponge over the pan, her red curls bobbing in time with her arm.
Persephone was suspicious and it grew more and more each day.
She's too young, she thought. Her mother's driver's license said forty, but she didn't look a day past twenty-five. Even if she lied and had Persephone in her teens, she should still look older. Her father too was apparently past forty but remained eerily young. The suspicious thoughts had only recently surfaced, having never noticed anything off about her parents before. Somehow, things weren't settling right with her like too rich food.
Things didn't add up. Her mother barely made enough money, but they attended one of the best private schools. Her father's "consultant" job which somehow gave him sway over the principle whenever Caleb got into fight. Above all, she couldn't shake the feeling she never really knew her parents, who they were, and why. Grandma and grandpa were suspiciously missing with the only the vague "grandpa was a shoemaker" from her mother which resulted in a sharp glare from her father when she was ten. No internet searches yielded any results because Sparda didn't seem to exist and her parents dodged every question. Secrets seemed to linger in the air like a ripe stench.
You can't hide it forever, she thought.
She hadn't always felt this way. Everything was perfect in her life; she was good student, excelled at all her activities, and had good friends despite her busy schedule. But in the past few months she had grown angry, practically falling to blows with anyone who confronted her and feeling a smug satisfaction with it. Rage would bubble up in her chest, filling her body until she felt like her skin would turn inside out. Now, it was directed towards her parents.
Rage hit her belly with a sharp sting. They weren't getting away with it anymore. She was going to find out.
Persephone breathed out sharply to quell her feelings as her vision began to swim. She put down her spoon.
"Mom, I need to stay at school late to practice for competition," she lied. No one ever questioned her being at the school gym late. There was always somebody there practicing for over achievement and it was usual her.
Her mother stopped scrubbing and looked up.
"But it's family game night. Your uncle with be here," she said.
"Sephie hates us now. You know because she's been a huge bitch lately," Caleb said, flinging some egg at her, his blue eyes dancing.
"No, just you," Persephone snarled, flicking the egg off the plaid skirt of her school uniform.
"Good God, Caleb. I'll slap you if I hear that language again," her mother snapped. "I'm not raising a second Dante. Persephone, you never needed to practice so much before."
Her mother rinsed the black pan, setting it in the drying rack.
"It's a hard piece," she replied.
"What's the music?"
Persephone shrugged her thin shoulders. "Some indie band no one has ever heard of. You probably don't know."
"Hipster much?" Caleb laughed. "Mom's so underground she's in China."
"You're certainly trying to get on my good side after yesterday," their mother said, crossing her arms with a wry smile.
Caleb grinned sheepishly. Gabe looked at his twin with his soulful eyes that Persephone always thought made him look years older.
"I'm sorry about that, mom," Gabe said quietly.
"I know you are, sweetie. That's why you're my favorite."
Caleb did a mock gasp of shock and Persephone grinned slightly at the exchange.
"You're just left out, aren't you Cal? Since I'm dad's favorite," Persephone said sweetly.
"After how you spoke to your mother last night, I wouldn't be so sure," a low voice rumbled.
Caleb, Gabriel, and Persephone looked at their father in shock. It was a rare sight to see him in the morning light.
"Hey, dad," Gabriel said as he walked in.
"Did you get fire?" Persephone asked, a slight pit in her stomach when she remembered her exchange with her mother.
"I was home early." He lowered his identical blue eyes to hers. "Do we need to have a talk?"
She shook her head, her heart battling between rage and the twinge of fear. Her father stared for a moment longer before straightening.
"She's going to miss family game night," her mother said.
"Can I miss family game night?" her father asked.
Her mother glared as the corner of her father's lip curled up in one of their silent exchanges. Persephone imagined this one involved some cursing. Just then, the front door slammed open and her father's slightly heavier and stubbly mirror image stepped in.
"Hey, Uncle Dante. Why are you here?" Caleb called.
Dante ruffled the twin's hair as her father glared daggers.
"You're supposed to knock," he said coldly.
"Lighten up, I'm family. Besides, it's an emergency," he turned towards her mother. "So Lady and I broke up again and she's really mad. Some crap about me being immature, yadda yadda yadda…."
"What do you want me to about it? This is the second time this month. Just marry her already."
A sharp ring sounded through the room and her mother picked up the phone from its place on the counter.
"Hello?" Pause. "Hi, Lady…. He did what?...Yes, I know he is an ass hole, maybe you should leave him for good…Yes, I know I got the good twin. Listen, I'll call you back later; the kids have to go to school."
Hands waving, her mother motioned towards the door. Persephone stood up and retrieved her duffle from the hook by the front door and placed it on her should as Caleb scrambled to find his homework, Gabriel tried to help, and her mother screamed. Persephone growled and tapped her foot impatiently. Her father walked up next to her, moving like a shadow in his black clothes. It was unnervingly fluid.
"Are you okay?" he asked, his eyes softening around the edges.
"I'm find, dad," she sighed.
"You seem angry," he said pointedly. For a moment, she wondered if she should tell him that sometimes she felt so overwhelmed with wrath she thought she may lose control. He never blinked at anything, but somehow she thought better of telling him.
"I'm fine, just stressed at school."
His eyes narrowed at her and she knew he knew she was lying, but he said nothing as her brothers stampeded towards the door. Her father quickly kissed her forehead and opened the door for them. Persephone felt almost guilty lying about practice, but she needed answers and knew the best place to find them was at the library and not the gymnastic mats.
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Pieces of paper, tossed up by the cold wind floated by as the blonde woman walked slowly towards the squat brick building. Only a single tattered metal door led into the unit. From it, loud music emanated, softened by the layers of the walls. She stared over her glasses and checked the address written on the scrap of paper in her hand. She shoved the address back into the pocket of her long, black coat and started towards the door, the fall air gently lifting her hair across her face. Her face was thin and long, punctuated by a sharp, slightly upturned nose. Skin as smooth and as polished as stone stretched across it with only the mar of a single red, perfectly round birthmark the size of a pea in the middle of her forehead. The deep crimson mark stared eternally outward like a third eye.
She pressed her hand against the door and it opened with a low groan of protest. Inside was a narrow dark hallway that led to an illuminated door at the end. The air was musty and the music grew louder as she walked silently down the hall. She slowly opened the final door and stepped through.
Five pairs of eyes shot up as she entered. They were all young, two females and three males, and all reached for various weapons upon seeing her. The five youths were gathered around a beat up table covered in cards. The woman eyed their mismatched clothes of leather, denim, and cotton. A child's idea of what urban outlaws should wear.
A black haired young man stood up and stepped forward; his heavy black boots echoing through the concrete room.
"Can we help you?" he asked with a voice full of swagger.
"Are you the Devil's Bane?" she asked. A ridiculous name and question; she knew it was them.
"Sure, what do you want to do about it?"
She kept her face clear of any emotion. "I have a job. A group of devils in Central City."
The group immediately perked up and the black haired youth was suddenly all business.
"What have they done?"
"I don't know what their end game is," she said, removing an envelope from her pocket. The youth took it and flipped through the photos inside.
"Two of them are attacking other people, mostly mob members. They're posing as a family with a few humans helping them, probably cult members."
"They look like kids."
"They're not. I'm afraid of what they might do at the school they're attending. I've tracked them for a while and they are definitely not human," she said.
He narrowed his eyes. "So what do you want us to do?"
She smiled. I have you, so young and stupid.
"All together, they're overwhelming. I need you to take care of the younger one's who are obviously weaker. But you need to be cautious about it. The older devils are not to be trifled with."
"What are we going to do about them?"
She grinned and straightened her glasses. "Leave them to me. The family is going by the name of Sparda. I guess they fancy themselves that powerful. All the info is in the envelope including my card. I'll pay you when the job is complete."
"How do I know I can trust you?"
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a stack of hundred dollar bills and handed them to the young man.
"I'm good for it and I heard you were the best. It will be better if you're subtle about it. Take the time to catch them off guard. You'll know when I draw the adults away. Call me if you run into any problems."
She turned her back to him and started walking. The young man grabbed her shoulder and spun her, holding a red sphere the size of a marble to her face. He glared at it before tucking it into his pocket with a smile. She had seen the spheres before and had expected it.
"Sorry, you never know who might be a devil," he said and held out his hand. "Mark."
She shook it, matching his grin. "I understand. My name is Mara."
With that, she continued on her way out the door. As she walked done the hallway, she whistled softly to herself. Outside, she hurried from the building and into an alley. Leaning against the wall, she closed her eyes as her forehead began to tingle. She felt her soul slip away and saw three pulsing, red orbs in her mind's eye. Power washed over her, and she felt the hair rise on her body.
"They agreed to it, father," she said.
She felt the words more that she heard them as they pounded through her mind.
Good. See to it that everything is in order in the citadel. They will fail this time.
"It will be done," she said, suddenly speaking with her own mouth, the wall cold against her back. She continued down the alley towards a waiting car. Mara hated feeling so human after speaking with him. Even killing her parents never fixed it, but it wouldn't be long before she would never feel weak again.
Whoot! First chapter. Please review. Constructive criticism is welcome. Peace!